Having met at Trinity Church in Cheltenham over twenty years ago and become friends, both of us have traveled and worked extensively around the world with our paths crossing at various points. After reconnecting last summer whilst paddle boarding with friends, we got to know each other again and Lydia asked Dave out for a drink. The rest is history…

Dave explains the engagement…

“We got engaged in Bath on a chilly Friday morning in March 2025 on the Palladian Bridge in Prior Park Gardens, a stunning National Trust Property just below Prior Park college (the bridge is the one pictured on this website). The ring had been ordered from Israel and wasn’t due to turn up until the following Monday but unbeknown to Lydia it had been delivered on Thursday afternoon (although I did have a backup from Amazon just in case!). I had been a little bit pushy about the location and Lydia had given in so off we went round the gardens. When we got to the bridge there were a couple of runners warming up so we stood around in the sunshine taking in the beautiful surroundings. Once the runners moved on I began to tell Lydia how much I loved her and how wonderful she is etc, etc, etc to which she replied “I bet you wish you had a ring to put on it now don’t you?” Imagine the look of surprise on her face when out came a small blue box as I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me! Thankfully she said yes and the ring was a perfect fit. Also, luckily for us, the two runners had spotted what was going on a stopped to take a few photos for us.”

We have so much in common from our Christian faith to our mutual love of paddle boarding and from our desire to be outside to drinking tea on Lydia’s green velvet sofa.

More to come soon…